Italy's data protection authority, the Garante, fined a digital marketing services company 300,000 euros for allegedly illegally processing users' personal data for marketing purposes. The Garante said the company's online portals used dark patterns to entice users "to pay consent to the processing of data for marketing purposes and to the communication of data to third parties always for the same purpose." The company was also unable to demonstrate obtained consent for sending promotional messages, the Garante said.